[deleted]
Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
591–600 of 1001 posts
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#592The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…
People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…
On the pickup truck example — maybe the person only buys mulch a few times a year, but the person has the capabilities of the truck all year. When I lived in the U.S., I had a home backup generator. Only really become useful once or twice, but when it was useful, it was extremely useful. Certainly one could instead rent a generator right? Except you don’t necessarily know when you’ll need it and that’s assuming there are even places from which to rent when you need it.
A pickup truck is a vehicle you can use every day that also has the capability of additional utility — you don’t lose everyday utility because it’s a pickup truck, but you have additional utility that’s there when you need it.
Why do most people own suitcases? Why not rent those when you need them? Why do people own skis? Or anything else that has occasional use?
In Spain, I drive a big diesel van. When I bought it, many commercial vehicle dealerships were pushing the electric version — for my daily driving which involves transporting motorcycles to the race tracks roughly 1.5 hours away, an electric would work, but the 10 times per year I have to drive across Spain for races, electric would be a nightmare — drive several hours, potentially towing a trailer then having to stop for hours to recharge? That turns a one-day 9 hour drive into a two day drive. Barcelona to Jerez for example. That also assumes that chargers are ideally spaced along the route and that time while I’m waiting for the van to charge? That’s wasted time. Then there is the matter of daily charging — parking in the Barcelona area, especially for a van isn’t easy. And finding a charging spot available that’s close to home would be an exercise in luck. Even if there were an order of magnitude more chargers, there’d presumably be an order of magnitude more EVs to compete with.
Then there is the question of weight — a large van requires large batteries which makes the weight of the vehicle substantially more than diesel — that means either a bigger vehicle is required or I get less payload. And driver licensing is based on weight.. so the EV version of my Crafter van would either mean I carry less (not an option,) or I have to move up to a higher weigh class which would require a commercial license.
While my personal situation is an “edge case,” the fact is that everyone’s life consists of their own version of edge cases. That’s the point of the free market — we can optimize around our own edge cases. The problem is when do-gooders are reductive, trying to fit everyone into a box based on what they think their needs should be rather than what they are.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#593Cars used to weigh half as much and make their own electricity. Repair costs are exponential on EVs compared to normal cars.
I can fix a car with a carburetor with analog parts, that I can machine myself.
It does not require an electric drive-train and battery to have back up cameras, tablets, even self-driving.
EVs are priming us for micro-transactions in our vehicles that we do not actually own.
So maybe the ecological impact makes sense, but the financial does not.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#594Earlier quoted context omitted.
People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…
I have a 200 mile range EV, which is to say a practical range of 120-160. It's great for running around the bay area. It's not so great for the monthly travel I do going 500-2000 miles in a stretch because stopping every 120-160 miles for anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours is mind-numbing, and that doesn't even account for the mercurial state of the national charging network. It's also not so great in places less fr…
You should have access to the supercharger network by then. It is amazing compared to the patchwork mess that is everything else.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#595[deleted]
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#596The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…
I disagree. The sustainable alternative to EVs is hybrids, not gas guzzlers. Hybrids can be smaller, cheaper, lighter and gentler on the grid. Each of these matter. Heavier cars cause significantly higher road wear [1], particulate pollution [2] and occupy more space. EVs by necessity, are heavier. This is especially evident in America's favorite product categories : SUVs and Trucks. The Ford- F150 lightning is 1.5x…
I'd really like to see a plug-in hybrid pickup where I can do 10-20 miles on a charge without needing the gas engine to even kick on. I get that by the time you put all that infrastructure in, an engineer starts asking why we don't just omit the ICE and add batteries for range... but I think there is an unmet need. That would allow me to do at least 50-70% of my miles all electric.
I do quite a lot of truck stuff: 2-3 major construction projects a year, gathering / transporting multiple cords of firewood at various stages annually, commercial landscaping, driving forestry roads for engineering work and hunting, etc. And I have a motorcycle that works a lot of the time for commuting needs. BUT, I also have kids and so I do end up needing a passenger vehicle, a need which is unfortunately filled by my truck since my wife has to also commute.
There is no way an electric vehicle would allow me to do the stuff I do. My truck offers 385 miles of range, and I usually carry enough extra fuel to get double that when I go into some extremely remote locations where there will simply NEVER be charge infrastructure. And I absolutely need it sometimes. I saw some poor guy driving that road get stuck in a Tesla out in the middle of nowhere. Not sure what that guy was thinking but he ended up getting towed out after failing to get a charge off of a gas generator after running it for 8 hours. It's bad fire country out there and he's very lucky that wasn't a concern at the time.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#597The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…
People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…
> We need expensive gear
(used only once, could have been rented much cheaper)Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#598The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…
People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…
5 years ago I spent 20K on a second hand Merc that I love driving. At the time, hybrids let alone electrical were way more expensive than a diesel car.
I'll be damned if I have to spend 50K on a car that doesn't even get me to the south of France in a day. Yeah, I only take long road trips a few times a year but if I do, I want to be able to do it in my expensive car.
It's like buying a top spec macbook pro but if you want to edit video even once or twice a year, you got to rent another computer.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#599Earlier quoted context omitted.
People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…
>People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. Edge cases can mean life and death sometimes. Is my vehicle going to get stuck in an emergency if no one plows snow on a 1 mile stretch of unpaved road between my home and the major road? If unrest/war/natural disaster happens and major infrastructure is non functional can I pack my family in to my car and just go 3k miles without worrying about ch…
Recell already sells trimmed down packs for Tesla models. It provides a cheaper option for fixing higher mileage vehicles.
Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US
#600Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I submit the optimum mix for most Americans right now is roughly 1 EV and 1 hybrid, solar roofing and a battery storage system. What geographic locations do you have in mind when you’re recommending solar? Youre in basically the best location for it.
As far as the US is concerned, there are no stricly "bad" locations for solar. Even using them in Alaska makes sense.
As long as you don't mind constantly removing snow from the panels, hopefully not damaging them in the process.